Hi. Recently I got an oil change done and when I got home I noticed a burning smell but it was so faint that I ignored it. Anyway, about a week later I was on the freeway and my engine started smoking a lot. I immediately pulled over and luckily there was a Jiffylube nearby and they looked at my oil. They told me that the oil ring or something was defective and that I was spewing out oil. Supposedly I had 0.5qrts left when they checked. The weird thing is, when I saw the smoke my engine was running fine, no oil temp light, and the oil temp was fine. After they gave me a new oil change everything was fine and they said that I COULD have SOME damage to the engine since I only had 0.5qrts left when I came in. Well on the way back I saw a little smoke that gradually disappeared and I assumed that it was just the leftover oil that was burning out. When I got home and parked smoke started to come out a little but soon disappeared. Once again I thought it was just the leftover oil cooking. By the end of the day it stopped smoking entirely but it still had a little burning smell. At night I drove back to Irvine (50 miles) and the car was running fine (no weird engine noises or abnormalities). Then the next day I drove and I couldn't smell anymore smoking so I decided to floor it a few times and everything was fine. When I got back and parked it started to smell like burning again but there was no smoke. I don't see any oil leaks on the floor but I do see some water from time to time (is it from using the AC?). Is anything wrong with my car? Is the oil leaking again or could their still be some oil remaining from the spill?

 

At first I thought it was spilled oil burning off hot engine components. But if it was driving fine for a week THEN started smoking a lot...I dunno. If you only had a half quart, I think things would be pretty fubar'ed. Good Luck

 

Thanks for the reply. After the new oil change everythings fine so far but I still get the burning smell after 10minutes of driving and after I have parked. Does it take this long for the spilled oil to evaporate away? I still don't have any CEL or oil/temp lights and my engine sounds/feels fine right now. Wonder what it could be...

 

It's like when you have to much oil/lotion on your hands if takes time to work it off. When oil get on hot surfaces, it takes awhile for it to truly burn off.

 

The weird thing is that the smell is light after regular driving but when I go for long periods or accelerate too fast it smells a lot after I park. I'm just nervous because if it was the leftover oil still burning the intensity of the smell wouldn't change that much (I think...) even if I drove hard or not. How long do you think it'll take for the smell to go away (or at least after how much time should I begin to worry)?

 

who did the oil change the first time around? did they use a crush washer between the pan and the oil plug?

 

I had it done at a local shop. The guy at Jiffy Lube said that the person installed it correctly and that it was probably a faulty oil thingy (it was that cylindrical thing that you just attach up underneath the car). Right now the smell is sort of getting better but it's still there just not as severe. So hopefully the smell is finally burning off and nothing is really damaged.... but it's been about 5 days now and it's still "burning off."

 

Dont go to Jiffy Lube! Google Search "Jiffy Lube Horror Stories" So many stories of blown/seized engines/trannies/diffs, stripped oil pan threads ect.. those types of places are full of high school drop outs and ex cons who dont give a fck about you or your car.

If you dont do it yourself, at least take it to subaru and have it done.

 

Yea I know but I had no choice. Smoke was everywhere and since my engine/rpms/temp were still fine I didn't want to take the chance and drive until they did turn bad.

*Edit*
Does anyone know if the leaking oil earlier could have damaged any of the piping? I hope the oil cooking on the pipes didn't cause anything to crack...